The Mirror of Erised
by JustMeDownHereAgain
Summary: A little short story about what happens when Teddy finds the Mirror of Erised during his fifth Christmas holiday at Hogwarts. Second Chapter: Another little story about when George finds the mirror and is surprised at what he sees.
1. Chapter 1

He laughed as he ran around a corner. He tried to stifle his laugh so Harry wouldn't hear him. He loved Christmas holiday where Harry was here, his gran was too old to run around, but Harry almost always said yes when he asked if he wanted to play tag or hide and seek.  
Teddy's turquoise hair fell into his eyes, and he brushed it away as a huge door appeared in front of him. He stared at it, wide eyed, before he carefully pushed the door open.  
Inside, the room looked dark, walls black with soot and ashes, as well as half burned objects were scattered around the huge floor.  
There was an object in the middle of the room which was untouched by the flames he figured had raged in here. A mirror, standing to the far right.  
It was beautifully decorated, like the walls in Harry's house, and he cautiously walked over to it.  
Its frame was made of gold, and it had writing over the glassy surface.

_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_

He frowned slightly as he didn't understand the words, but then his eyes fell on the reflection.  
It showed him, standing there, breathing heavily from running, eyes shinning with happiness, and a small frown on his face.  
He was wearing the black pants required of Hogwarts students, and the dark blue shirt George had given him for Christmas. "It's the only thing I could find which fit your turquoise hair" he'd said and Teddy had smiled.  
Everyone always asked him why he didn't have his ordinary hair colour, and he always replied that he liked the answer. He wanted to reassemble his mother though. They all told him he looked like his father, so he wanted to for once show he was like his mother.

And that was who he saw in the mirror, what had caught his attention in the reflection. His parents were standing there, smiling at him.  
He turned around with a beaming smile, but they weren't behind him like they did in the mirror, and his smile fell.

He recognised them from all the pictures he had of them, his mother with bubble-gum coloured hair and his father with the scars and shabby clothes.

As his mother (the reflection of his mother at least) noticed his sad expression, her own expression softened. She made a grimace and all of a sudden, she had a pig snout. He chuckled, though it wasn't nearly as bright as it used to.  
His father then put a hand on his shoulder, and he expected to feel a ghostly touch, but there was nothing, no pressure, no warmth. No father.

The shinning eyes were now shinning of tears rather than joy and his mother again tried to cheer him up with various animal snouts. It was a hoarse laugh that escaped him, and she looked up at his father, worried for her son.

Teddy's eyes reached his father as well, and he was met with a soft smile which caused him to notice the difference from the pictures he had.

In all of his pictures, his father looked tired from the full moon, older than he was, but now.. Now he looked happy, at peace with everything. He didn't have to worry about the full moon, because he had no more painful transformations, and no more tiring beast controlling him.  
Teddy saw himself change in the reflection, his hair becoming a mousy brown, just like his mother did. So they all matched.

"I'm not changing either daddy" he told him, knowing his dad had been worried that he would have been a werewolf as well.  
"I'm not a werewolf, just like you didn't want me to be" he smiled sadly and his father smiled back, nodding as him, though he couldn't answer him.

Teddy took another step towards the mirror, and his reflection walked closer as well, bringing his parents with him.  
He smiled hopefully - maybe he could reach his parents through the mirror - and lifted his hand to touch the glass. It met with his reflections hand, but nothing else happened. His parents weren't there with him, and he couldn't get into them.

His heart sank, and a tear fell down his cheek, causing both his parents to look at him sadly.

He then fell to his knees as he looked up at his parents whom he knew to be dead. For a short time there, he'd believed there finally was some way to get them back, but now he knew it was impossible.

* * *

"They're happy now" he startled at the voice behind him, which he hadn't heard due to his crying.  
"He got freed from his curse, and they are waiting for you, but it isn't your time to join them yet Teddy"  
It was Harry who spoke, and he could hear that his voice was laced with worry, and grief, and sorrow.

"You see it as well?" he asked, sniffling as he looked up at his Godfather.  
Harry sat down besides him and shook his head.

"It shows your hearts desire" he told him.  
"I saw my parents in there as well when I was your age. Now I see all the people we lost in the war - and my parents - being alive and well" he told him, and Teddy wasn't surprised to find that Harry cared so much about all their lives.

"Can I talk to them?" he asked, and Harry shook his head again.

"It will never be more than a picture. Just like your pictures at home" he told him, and Teddy nodded.  
Harry took his hand and pulled him up, into a hug.  
"I'm sorry Teddy" he sighed.  
"I wish I could have done something to make sure you'd see your parents every time you looked in a mirror if you wanted, but we need to let the dead stay dead, or we will go insane"

Teddy found the room lots and lots of times after that, but he never found the mirror.

* * *

I hope you guys like it!  
Feel free to favourite and review!

There will probably be a second chapter with George! (Btw)


	2. Chapter 2

He looked through the old shop, moving boxes and furniture to get around.  
It was right besides the jokeshop, big, everything he looked for to expand the store.  
He'd been looking for a couple of months now, and it seemed that he'd finally found the right place after tracking down the previous owner and bought the place.

It would need a lot of work though, as everything was dusty, and broken, and messy.  
Right now though, George was just trying to find out how big it was, and find ideas of how to decorate it for the opening.

He went through a door to what he supposed had once been the back of the store, and it surprised him to find it almost empty. The dust was still there, and a couple of boxes along the edges of the small room.  
In the middle of the room, covered by a white piece of fabric, was something huge.  
He uncovered it, and in front of him was a huge, beautiful ornate and decorated mirror.  
The frame was golden and the glass was clear, as if it had never been touched by dirty fingers, never lived a day in the real world.

He knew, of course, that it was much too old for that, preserved by magic rather than new as he imagined. He read the unfamiliar words carved over the silvery surface that reflected himself.

He brought his eyes down to his reflection - not noticing how the eyes in the mirror were already fixed upon him.  
As he moved his hand to brush the hair out of his face, he did, however, notice that the mirage didn't move exactly like him.

He brushed it back, where his mirror-self put it behind his ear.  
_An ear which wasn't there.  
_He didn't leave a second of doubt that it might be the other ear that was missing as his heart leaped. He'd missed his ear too long to doubt that.

The mirror-George grinned, and he knew that grin, he knew that shade of hazel-brown eyes, and he knew the mischievous glint in those eyes which he'd long lost.

"Fred" He breathed.

The hand still by his (missing) ear reached out in a wave inside the mirror.

His brother then looked up, and George's eyes followed him to the cryptic writing.  
A mirror writing, which of course could only make sense if seen through a mirror (a conclusion he only got to because his brother looked as if he'd found the answer to the best riddle of all times.

Squinting his eyes and moving the spaces between the words, his imagination was able to provide him with the words;

_I show not your face but your hearts desire._

His eyes darted back to his brother, who nodded.  
The mirror of Erised. He knew about it , had heard and read about it, and he'd often wanted to see it for himself, to see himself with his brother, laughing and hugging him one last time.

Yet, here he was, standing in front of it, and only his brother was there, grinning and fooling around as he'd always done. But alone.

"You remember how much you hated that I of all jokes chose 'I am holey'?" He asked his brother, sorrow and bitterness mixing with a short laugh at the memory.  
"I suppose it's fitting now. Just.. You're the most hol(e)y of us now" a tear left his eye, and his brother didn't grin anymore.  
He reached out for him instead, and gave him a crooked smile.

George could almost her the words his brother mouthed - only, he'd forgotten the tone of the voice, exactly when it fell and rose, and just how bright it could be at times.

"It's still the worst joke ever chosen, and then you decide to remind me of _that_ when you finally see me?"

George laughed, though it sounded more as a sob.  
"I miss you brother. I wish you could be here instead of me, you always handled such things as this better."

And he understood why he only saw his brother. He wanted him alive, and well, and he'd more than gladly give up his life for it.

"I need your ideas, your comments, I need you!" He told him, feeling a lump in his throat.

His brother didn't try to say anything else, he merely looked at him, mirroring the sad look in George's eyes.

* * *

As the new part of the shop opened, Fred was in the back of it at all times, and his comments and rolling eyes followed George's work every day - the words onLu said in George's head.

As months went past, he rarely even looked at the mirror, his brother's voice just played in his mind, now also outside of work.

Him and Fred were working together again, helping each other, and he completely forgot about the mirror until on day, he went into the back, and he saw not his brother, but both of them in the reflection.

He didn't know when the image had changed, but he realised that, where he'd do anything for his brother to live, he'd much rather be with his brother, whether it was alive or dead.

* * *

It was shortly after that he finally found peace in his heart, because he knew that one day, he and his brother would be together again, this time never to be parted. He also knew that that time wasn't now, and a mirror wasn't going to bring him any closer to his brother.


End file.
